La Hermida – A quick guide to the best of ‘tufaland’…

In our new guide to La Hermida we reveal a bunch of great new spots and many of them have one thing in common…

Brilliant tufas.

So much so, that after her visit Caroline Ciavaldini christened the area ‘tufaland’…and it’s true that for the addict of this type of climbing there’s tons to go at.

So I thought it’d be a nice idea to rate the crags in terms of their overall ‘tufaness’ – the old and the new crags – to give a hit-list of venues.

1. Carcalosa – Just for the scale of the left wall Carcalosa has to be number one. An amazing crag and a ton of tufas to get stuck into – maybe the highlight being Dimensiones Paralela, 7c+, the super-obvious ‘train line’ tufas on the right wall.

2. Rumenes – Even with the emergence of other crags this is still some of the best tufa climbing around – and the first time the top wall is seen nearly everyone gasps; some in shock and some in delight!!

3. El Infierno – Like a supercharged Rumenes this is a wall simply covered in tufas. There’s possibly less ‘easy routes’, with the grades starting at 7a and above but this is a great venue and has shade in the afternoon…

Alberto Hontavilla. Balambambu, 7c, El Infierno

4. Estraguena – All the routes apart from one take tufas at some point and strangely for a tufa crag none of the routes seem that steep. The routes have a good length and the grades are good for the ego and for onsighting too…

5. Cueva Hermida – Very good new venue – and the only downsides are that there are very few easy routes and that there’s not a huge amount either. A steep wall turns into a roof and the climbing is powerful and pumpy.